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As the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), continues its search for better ways to recover over N5trillion owed it, 80 per cent of which by 350 individuals in the country, prominent jurists at the weekend again urged its management to explore opportunities available at Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) centres established by the Federal High Court.
Speaking in Abuja at the weekend, respected jurists including Justices I.N.Buba; A.M. Liman; C.M.A. Olatoregun; B.F.M. Nyako; and Nnamdi Dimgba PhD as well as Dr. Chuka Agbu SAN and Mr. Olugbenga Bello, among others urged AMCON to refer some of its cases to ADR as that could provide faster ways of recovering rather than wait endlessly for the courts that are already over burdened with litigations.
They argued that the Corporation currently has over 3,000 court cases and counting with imminent sunset date fast approaching.
Speaking at the Abuja version of the 2019 Annual Seminar for External Solicitors and Asset Management Partners (AMPs) of AMCON, which ended at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja at the weekend, Justice Buba, who chaired one of the sessions said, “Every judge is supposed to promote ADR because it is faster. ADR was set up to help the courts. If you say you don’t want ADR, then you have to be ready to waste your time in court. It is not that the courts deliberately delay your cases, but the courts are overwhelmed by the barrage of cases before them.”
For his part, Justice Nyako, who also chaired a session, while commenting on why cases are piling up in court urged AMCON lawyers to familiarise themselves with the legal procedures before appearing in court. According to her, if a lawyer handling AMCON’s case does not follow procedure, the case will not take off.
To help ease off the pressure, she added that the Federal High Court was trying to establish three more ADR centres in the country for faster dispensation of justice. She said, “Once the ADR centres are open, I want to encourage our lawyers to refer some of these AMCON cases to the ADR centres to help decongest the courts.”
AMCON’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ahmed Lawan Kuru, who was represented at the annual seminar by Mr. Aminu Ismail, Executive Director Operations at the Corporation had earlier in his welcome speech lamented its huge outstanding debt estimated at over N5trillion, which will eventually become a burden to the Federal Government of Nigeria if at sunset AMCON failed to recover it.
Urging AMCON lawyers to sit up especially in the face of hard fighting obligors, he added, “We have noticed increased incidences of obligors taking advantage of the appeal process to deny us the benefit of favourable judgments obtained.
Going forward, we should be conscious of the availability of the opportunity to request the courts to order litigants to deposit judgment consideration with the court registrars. This will mitigate the practice of obligors deliberately dragging their matters in court.”
